Grilling JR - Monday Night Raw 10.10.05 Watchalong [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Monday Night Raw - October 10, 2005

The event took place on October 10, 2005 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Attendance was reported to be about 3,500.

This is the second show back on the USA Network, with the week before being Raw Homecoming. In response, SpikeTV was heavily competing with WWE with UFC and eventually, TNA.

Why did WWE want to go back to USA?

The signature open has the statement The Power is Back.

What did that mean?

Stephanie comes out to her “All Grown Up” theme. She’s BLONDE, almost. She’s hot and the commentators - and Vince - put her over for it.

Possible Topics of Discussion/News Items:

Rumors that Mike Goldberg of UFC met with Vince and was offered JR’s position for as much as $350,000 a year. Also, a report that Vince asked him to no-show a UFC Live special and debut on Raw in JR’s spot, which he refused to do.

Was that true?

Brock Lesnar wins the IWGP title just weeks after beating WWE in court. The finish saw Brock pin Chono after The Verdict, an F-5 which, for trademark reasons and as a way to stick it to WWE, has been renamed.

WWE buried Ultimate Warrior in a segment on Byte This on WWE.com by having a fake guy dressed as him run out and read a letter Warrior wrote Vince that, among other things, called Droz a cripple. Droz responded “I’d rather be physically handicapped then mentally handicapped like the Warrior is.”

The WWE 24/7 On-Demand Banner is visible in the arena. That was the precursor to the WWE Network: An on-demand channel updated twice a month with shows that can be watched anytime. But they didn’t leave all of their old content on it, so every month, shows would disappear. It would be dissolved upon the WWE Network’s launch.

Did you have 24/7 or know much about it?

Doink the Clown, played by someone with really small legs. Against the Con Man, Rob Conway.

Rob Conway pinned Doink the Clown (Steve Lombardi) at 2:43 with the Ego Trip; after the bout, Conway cut a promo on the WWE legends, saying they were a joke and that he was a future WWE Hall of Famer; moments later, Conway continued his assault on Doink, prompting Eugene to come out and clear Conway from the ring; Conway soon attacked Eugene from behind and hit the Ego Trip

Carlitos Cabana...Look at Shawn’s reactions to Angle saying he carries this company. How much you want to bet that’s a shoot reaction? Watch Shawn on the beach chair - hilarious. Cena comes out and does a rap on all in the ring.

Chris Masters defeated Tajiri via submission with the full nelson at 2:23; prior to the match, Tajiri attacked Masters during his ring entrance

WWE.com Unlimited is mentioned next. If you watched Raw live, you could go to the website and see extra segments during commercial breaks. This was being pushed heavily during this period.

Hunter walks a gauntlet of evil stares in the back because he beat down Flair the week before. He has an interesting face to face with John Cena and tells him when he wants the belt, he will take it. This is “Reign of Terror” Triple H, so many fans know what he really means when he says this. Hunter then bumps into a backstage hand and throws him head first off screen.

Hunter has the Motörhead mustache. He says he took the old dog out behind the shed and put a bullet in his head.

We hear that a main event was made on WWE Unlimited, a six man tag between everyone we saw in the Cabana.

Trish vs Victoria with Mickey...Henson as referee. They made him change his name from Mickey Jay since there was about to be a wrestler debuting named...well, you’ll see. Pre-match stipulations stated that both Candice Michelle & Torrie Wilson were banned from ringside

There’s a really sick move where Victoria catches Trish’s turnbuckle flip and jumps into a Boston Crab off the second rope.

WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus pinned Victoria at 3:40 by reversing a piledriver attempt into a backdrop and cover

Victoria attacks Trish after the match and Ashley runs out but gets slammed. Then, Mickey James makes her debut. She introduces herself to Trish backstage. She tells her she loves her.

So many mentions of WWE Unlimited. I wish they could have added that to the Network show.

King says that Mr McMahon may love to fire people more than his good friend, Donald Trump.

Kurt Angle, Edge (w/ Lita), & Carlito Caribbean Cool defeated WWE World Champion John Cena, Shawn Michaels, & the Big Show at 19:29 when Angle pinned Cena with a roll up after reversing Cena's attempt at the ankle lock

Big Show gets a big crowd reaction on the hot tag. JR compares him to the closest thing he’s seen to Andre the Giant.

What could have been done better when booking The Big Show?

Angle gets the pin on Cena with a victory roll counter from Cena’s ankle lock.

Kane is returning next week on Raw - a vignette says. He will win the main event battle royal next week.

Mick Foley is on Carlito’s Cabana next week, too.

A backstage WWE Unlimited segment tells us that Eric Bischoff won’t be fired.

Vince hires everyone in the world and then fires them all.

Then he chews out the commentators and makes them apologize. Coach plays the coward. King reluctantly apologizes to keep his job. JR apologizes for Linda being stunned. But that’s not good enough.

Stephanie comes out, and slaps JR.

Linda comes out and pretends to be good - then turns heel and fires JR. Then kicks him in the balls.

With that, the JR era comes to a close.

JR told WWE.com:

“I would say [my firing is] egotistically driven. Vince is hell-bent on having a fresh, new face that hasn’t had Bell’s Palsy or have a Southern accent sitting in the chair on RAW. This company is like any other entertainment company. You put looks and youth over skill and experience almost every time. I think this was a cop out. I think he just wanted a new voice for RAW, and I think he quite frankly didn’t think J.R. would have become as popular as he did. It certainly wasn’t Vince’s plan. He’s out of touch. He hasn’t been to the grocery store since George Bush, Sr. was president. Here’s a guy that takes a limo to get his haircut every week, and he’s trying to tell me about reality.”

Also:

“That will be my lasting memory and I don’t believe that to be fair. It will take some time to get over it, but I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. Maybe they’ll get a nice fresh-faced pretty boy that doesn’t know a wristwatch from a wristlock. WWE’s reputation for finding star announcing talent over recent years hasn’t been exactly sterling.”

Next week on Raw:

The JR angle is the main focus.

Vince says “there’s a reason JR’s eyes are brown.” Vince introduces a video that shows JRs worst/most embarrassing moments.

Then Good Old Coach comes out and is announced as the new lead commentator. He continued doing play-by-play until November 7, when Joey Styles joined the team. He remained on until May, 2006.

Hurricane defends JR backstage and then Vince sics Angle on him! He literally says “sic him.”

Austin shows up drunk. He rants about how unhappy he is with what happened to JR.